iBeacon is a new function that is developed by Apple Inc. in September, 2013 and that is configured for an operating system of a mobile device. The iBeacon uses a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology, and specifically uses a broadcast frame named “advertisement frame” (Advertising) in BLE. The advertisement frame is a frame that is periodically sent, and can be received by any device that supports the BLE. The iBeacon is implemented by inserting data in an Apple-defined format into a payload of this advertisement frame. iBeacon data mainly includes four types of information: a universally unique identifier (UUID), a major value, a minor value, and measured power.
The UUID is a 128-bit identifier specified in the ISO/IEC11578:1996 standard.
The major value and the minor value are independently set by an iBeacon developer, and both of them are 16-bit identifiers.
The measured power is a reference received signal strength indicator (RSSI) when an iBeacon module and a receiver are at a one-meter distance from each other. The receiver calculates a distance between the sending module and the receiver according to the reference RSSI and received signal strength.
When arriving at a store for which an iBeacon base station is deployed, a mobile device receives a broadcast frame sent by the iBeacon base station. When a merchant application is installed on the mobile device, a corresponding merchant icon is presented in a lower left corner of a lock screen of the mobile device, and according to an iBeacon push rule, the application on the mobile device obtains advertising messages such as a corresponding merchant discount and order from a merchant server. If a corresponding merchant application is not installed on the mobile device, an icon of an application store app store is presented on a screen of the mobile device. When a user taps the icon of the app store, the application store is entered, and the user is prompted to download an installation package of the merchant application. After downloading and installation are completed, the application on the mobile device obtains advertising messages such as a corresponding merchant discount and order from a merchant server.
It can be learned from the foregoing description that when an application of a corresponding merchant is not installed on a mobile device, after receiving a broadcast frame sent by a base station, the mobile device needs to use data traffic of a user to connect to a network, then downloads an installation package of the application from an application store and installs the installation package of the application, and after installation is completed, obtains advertising information of the merchant by using the application. In this process, a relatively long waiting time of the user needs to be consumed, and the data traffic of the user is also consumed.